


The Bucket List

by Skysquid22



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: AU, Bucket List, Crack, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, otp prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-11 08:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11144709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skysquid22/pseuds/Skysquid22
Summary: Sonny Carisi, an immortal, makes a proposition to Rafael Barba a historian.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I found this prompt from OTP prompts and I ran with it.
> 
> Person A’s immortal and is always at odds with the local historian; Person B.
> 
> I kinda changed it as I wrote it, and I'm not 100% sure if I want to continue it. So give me some feedback please.
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO, I'm back hooray! For how long, I don't know. I hope you enjoy this.
> 
> Sidenote: I have a Tumblr so you can find me at @Skysquid22
> 
>  
> 
> ((Oh and there's a suicide mention in here so yeah, it's brief though.))

“Hello again!”

Sonny.

_Again._

Rafael had really no clue why this man was constantly visiting him in his office. Actually he knew why. Dominick “Call Me Sonny” Carisi was a self proclaimed immortal. Although he not born in Ancient Rome or the Middle Ages, Carisi claims that he was born in the 1930’s making him 80 something years old.

He didn’t buy any of it.

“What are you researching today? Origin of Humanity? Europe, this time?” He questioned, sliding into his personal space.

Barba sighed in reply, not bothering to hide his displeasure. “Still looking at Early America. Like yesterday. And the day before. _And the day before that._ ”

“Yeah but,” Carisi took and seat and flew his hand around in the air. “Ancient Rome is so much cooler. I mean if I was a historian like you I’d do something interesting.”

Rafael looked up from his papers and met his blue eyes. “This is a job. I do what I’m told.”

Sonny immediately gave a low whistle before Rafael could correct his sentence. “I don’t think you could have _possibly_ made that more sound like you’re a mindless sheep.” Then under his breath he said, “I wonder if you can work as a historian by yourself…

“Anyway, maybe you should look up The Cold War or The Great Depression. _I_ could be of help in those categories.”

“Yeah okay,” He paused and scribbled down some notes. “That’s right, you’re a immortal. _How could I forget?_ ” Barba said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. 

Carisi seemed undeterred by Barba’s _get out of my way_ personality. He stuck around, determined to prove that he wasn’t lying. “After all this time you still doubt me?” He exclaimed throwing his arms mockingly in the air.

“We met a few weeks ago. Can you really blame me for thinking that you’re a liar?”

“Harsh.” Carisi muttered. 

“And like I said before I can prove it with my knowledge.” He smugly adds.

Barba sighed again and sat up and gave Sonny his full attention. It was time to put him in his place. “We went over this. Half of your info you have no proof that what you say is true and the other half is public record to a degree. Why can’t you just admit that you just took a prank too far?”

The blond is hushed momentarily. “I’m not lying, I’m just trying to help you out. And you really can’t blame me for what I know. It was still a long time ago.”

For a split second Barba is a bit guilty of the fact that he snapped at the younger looking man. But this has to stop. It’s getting ridiculous. “Please. Just. Let me be. Go back to your work and tell them that the prank didn’t work. _Oh god. Did Liv send you?_ Please don’t tell me that. If so tell her that I’m sorry about the cat.”

“Cat? What? No. Look.” Carisi shifts in his seat and leans in closer. “There is a way I can really prove it but,” He licks his lips. “It’s kinda painful.”

“I don’t need you to prove anything Carisi.” Barba says softly. “Go home.”

Sonny just looks into his placent green eyes. “I’m immortal right? So,” The taller man leans back a bit as Rafael closes his eyes and sighs. “I can’t die. If I ‘kill’ myself would it prove it?”

And just like that his eyes snap back open. “No, no, no, no, no. _No._ Please do not kill yourself just to prove a point.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have to if you’d believe me.”

“Alright fine. Just. Don’t hurt yourself.” Sonny looks into his eyes and sees a great deal of real distress radiating off of him. 

“Okay. To be fair I wasn’t hundred percent serious with that. That’s why I said it would hurt. The pain doesn’t go away-- _well, mean it does._ Eventually. After I ‘die’, but the point still stands.”

Barba breathes a breath of relief. “Alright, good. I don’t think I handle your suicide on my guilty conscience. Also you really shouldn’t joke about that.”

Before answering he gets up from the chair adjacent from Rafael and drags it so he’s sitting right next to him. “Look I really wouldn’t die.” He hold his hands up in a universal calming gesture. “And sorry for joking about death like that. It’s just that it happens so often I’ve kinda been self deprecating about subjects like that. I apologize.”

Rafael has his head turned to listen to him. He sees the sincerity in his eyes, but still can’t see why he’s so adamant about the fact that he’s immortal. Maybe he actually is. 

“Shame there’s really no way to prove that, huh?”

Carisi gives a sweet smile that somehow makes Barba’s day. “Yeah, not without scaring you, yeah.” He looks down at the files and copies of documents of the past and says, “Is there anyway I can help? Make it up to you?”

Barba looks at him a little longer before replying, “No, that’s not necessary. Just allow me to do my job.”

He shifts away and quietly watches him work. Rafael notes that he makes good company. But, really, it was only a matter of time before Carisi breaks the silence. “Hey. I think I know how I can prove it without anyone getting hurt.”

“Oh?” Rafael says, not looking up to address him.

“Yeah.” He says slowly. “My birth certificate. I’ll prove that I was born in 1933. And there’s no way I’m 84 years old. Look at me.”

Barba look up at his adorable, arrogant smile just to shut him down. “Birth certificates are one of the most falsified documents. You really think that’s going to change my mind?”

“Yeah! But,” Carisi sits up a little straighter and leans in. “You’re a historian, you can tell if it’s fake or can’t you? That’s part of your job isn’t it?”

Barba replies immediately, “It is. However, I would like to stress that it could still be fake even if it passes my test.”

“Yeah but, what are the chances of that? And you’d be a pretty crappy historian if you can’t tell if a birth certificate is forged or not huh? And I know you are a pretty great one, so you’ll have no trouble at all.”

Carisi shows off another cocky smile and stands up. “I’ll come back tomorrow with it.” And with that he leaves. Practically sprinting out the room.

 

-

Sonny doesn’t come back until late the next day. Literally as Barba is packing up to go home. He barges in, his hair is a wind swept and his face is rosy from the cold. “It took me awhile, but, I found it!”

He breaths heavily for a moment before handing over the document to Rafael.

Barba quietly accepts the certificate and turns back on the light and sits back down into his chair to examine it. Meanwhile Carisi collapses in one of the presiding chairs. It takes a bit to actually confirm, the taller man wasn’t lying. It’s actually his birth certificate. 

“Going by the shocked look on your face you proved it’s real, yeah?” Carisi says rushing because he’s still out of breath.

The shorter man just nods his head slowly. 

“See told you. You believe me now? I’m immortal, I can’t die.” He drags a hand through unkempt hair.

Really Barba has no choice. The paper is in fantastic condition, he must of kept it in a really secure place. But, still, in the back of his mind he can’t believe it. How can he? People like that don’t exist.

“Again if you want further proof I can, you know…”

“No, no.” Rafael shaking his head. “That’s not necessary, I’ll just have to trust you on this.

“So you aren’t kidding. You really can’t die. H-How?”

Carisi simply shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“What? How can you not know? Have you never decided to look into the fact that _you can’t die?_ ” Barba is talking so fast he’s slurring his words a bit.

By now Sonny drops the careless act. He looks sheepish. “Well, when you have eternity to figure it out do you really think that _I_ would spend my time, hopeless, trying to figure out why I exist?” 

Rafael considers this for a moment, tearing his eyes away from Carisi for a moment just to lean back in his chair. “Me? Yes. You? Maybe.”

“Exactly!” Sonny exclaims moving his hands finally. “I got my entire life to figure it out. I’ll get to it eventually.”

“Yeah I just…” Barba’s in disbelief. He doesn’t know why he didn’t see it before, the younger looking man is sincere and honest about all of this. There’s no way he can be lying.

Now there’s just one question left. “Why me?”

“Huh?” 

“Why the hell did choose me? Why did you tell me this?” 

Carisi sits up in his chair and gives a glowing smile. “I mean why not?” There’s a faint hint of blush on his cheeks. “I was more curious if I could convince you to do all of it really.”

Rafael squints at that. “What do you mean, ‘all of it’?”

Now he’s really looking uncomfortable, shifting in his chair, desperate to get comfortable. “Well… I have a proposition for you.”

“Go on…”

“Over the years and after seeing many friends pass on I’ve compiled a giant bucket list of things to do before I die.”

“But, you can’t die.”

“Exactly.” Sonny says breathlessly. “No time like the present huh?”

“Alright,” Barba allows, to a degree. “Where do I fit in, in all of this?”

Carisi shifts to the side, _Will this man ever sit still?_ Barba thinks to himself. 

“Well, it’s a extensive list and I was wondering if you’d like to help me complete it…?” He ends it as a question, unsure if what Rafael will say to that. 

“Umm, Carisi. I may not have expanding family or someone to go home to, but I have friends here. I can’t just take off.”

Sonny cuts Barba off before he says anything more. “Right, right. I get it. You can just leave your family in general can you? It was just a offer anyway.” His face is red again, this time from embarrassment as he backs up stumbling a few times trying to reach the door and to get the hell out of Dodge. 

“Carisi…”

“No. It’s fine. I’ll go find someone else to do it. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again so… I guess---”

 _“Carisi.”_ Barba hisses, which shuts him up long enough to elaborate. “Truthfully, the only family I have is my mother. I love my friends, but I don’t have a lot. The thing is I can always write to them. And the truth is I don’t really like this job very much either. Yesterday--when I said I do as I’m told-- that really got to me. I need a change of lifestyle and filling out my bucket list along with an immortals?” Barba shakes his head in disbelief. “I would love to help complete it with you.”

Sonny stands there for a few minutes stunned into silence. Eventually he lets out a breath and leans back against the glass door. “Huh. You actually want to do this?”

“Yeah,” He says softly. The admission in of itself is as powerful as bomb dropping. “I do. But. I have a few questions about this. Where are we getting the money? How do we pay for this?”

Carisi shakes himself out of his stupor and pushes against the door to propel himself back to his chair. “Well, when I first found out I was immortal I planned ahead. I put most of my money into savings, hoping inflation would increase the value of it---which it did, to a degree. So all we have to do is head to my home and we’ll be set to begin.”

“Wow we’re really doing this. This is gotta be the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done.” Barba lets out a huffed laugh. 

Sonny smiles genuinely at that. “Just you wait. We got a lot of stuff to cover.”


	2. Last Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Item #7 3am Breakfast

“Alright, before we leave I kinda have to go visit my friends for a bit. As well as my mom.” Rafael says as he slides into the passenger seat of late 1960’s Ford Mustang. “Also very nice car.”

Carisi hops into the passenger seat and starts it. “Thanks! I’ve modified it over the years so it’s more ‘modern’.” He adds, using air quotes. “Anyway, yeah just direct me where we need to go.”

Barba’s first stop is less than 5 minutes away. It’s a large clay colored building, looking very similar to the one they were just in. In fact the same types of people work there too. “Alright I’ll be back in a bit. Just have to visit my friend Olivia.” He says as he opens the door, but before he could step out Carisi grabs his wrist.

“Wait. Before you go.” Barba turns to face him, patiently waiting for him to continue. “Don’t tell anyone about the fact that I’m immortal, alright?” Rafael clearly wants him to elaborate, but is forced on a semi-tight schedule. Sonny lives an hour away and it’s already late. So to speed things up he nods and gets out.

Liv always works late just like him. 

He knocks on the door and lets himself in.

“Rafael! How can I help you?” She’s sitting at her old mahogany desk, with a pen in her right hand and her reading glasses in her left. 

“I have news. I’ll be taking a kind of… vacation. For awhile.” Barba strides in but doesn’t sit down. 

“Well that’s good. Where to?” Olivia leans back in chair, folding her glasses in her lap and put her pen down. The pen was actually a gift from Rafael, at least she’ll have something to remind her of him.

Barba clears his throat and says, “I’m not sure. And I don’t know for how long either. Way too early for me to retire, but this could be it.”

She has a dazed look on her face for a moment before she licks her lips and replies, “Oh. So you’re leaving…”

“I’ll make sure to write. When I can anyway. Probably can’t write me back though. I’ll be moving around a lot. Do me a favor will you?”

“Yes. Of course.” She says softly and honestly.

“Tell my other co-workers about my state. Please.”

She nods in reply and picks up her pen to study it. “Do visit sometime. Will you Rafael?”

“Yes. Of course Liv.”

Olivia is one of the closest friends he’s ever had. Honest, inspiring, and a great listener to boot. He’s thought about asking her out on a date once, but decided he didn’t want to ruin one of the few friendships he’s ever had. 

“Have you told Mr. Jackson?”

“Not yet. I’ll tell him in letter. I have to leave now actually. Bit of hurry, sorry.” He shifted from side to side, waddling his way to the door. It’s occurring to him that’s he acting _really_ suspicious. 

She laughs a bit. Either at the fact he’s going to mail his boss a letter saying he went on vacation or the fact he’s scuttling to the door. “Send me postcards!”

“Will do. Goodbye.”

-

Barba ends up kinda sneaking up on Carisi as he flinches when he knocks on the passenger window. He puts away his copy of _Life_ magazine and opens the door. “So you ready now?”

“Patience. I have two more stops left.”

Carisi grumbles but, doesn’t say anything as he drives him to the post office.

As soon as they pull in Rafael gets out and buys a set of stamps and envelopes from the middle aged man working there. He also buys some paper and as he’s writing a letter, Carisi finally catches up. 

“I can’t believe this place is still open at this time of night.” He muses to the building, looking around. Then he snaps his glare to Barba’s hands, furiously writing. “Who are you writing to?”

“My boss. I figured… He’d want an... explanation.” He takes awhile to finish the sentence since he’s in the middle of writing, however he manages and finishes the letter right after and sends it off so the mail can take care of it. If the letter is late then Olivia can fill him in, till then.

“Alright one more stop.”

“Uhh, Barba, you sure you wanna do this?” Sonny sways from side to side as he walks alongside him. “I mean, you don’t have to. It was just a proposition after all. You could _still_ turn it down. Back out.” Carisi has a worried look on his face, _It’s cute_ Barba considers. 

“As I said before. I’m kinda using this as an escape from my job and my _boring, wretched,_ life. No one will really miss me, the ones who will, well, we can always visit right? And send letters too.” For punctuation he looks Sonny in the eye and lifts his right hand, displaying the envelopes. Then as they get in the car he puts the items in the glove box. “I need change and I need a vacation of sorts.” 

Carisi sniffs. He has a sneaking suspicion that not telling the whole truth, but fine. They can have this discussion later. He puts the car in gear and they head to their final destination. 

It’s 1 in the morning as Barba uses his key to softly open his mother’s door. His Mom is the only thing holding him back, but, letters and regular visits were a thing when he had to leave this town for college. This will be no different. 

However one thing has changed. His grandmother died a few years ago and it still seems like his mom still affected by her passing. Rafael is too, to a degree, they were a tight knit group. Every now and then he gets a wave of nostalgia and wistfulness about her. 

Like now.

He really does not want to wake up his mother. Carisi still has to drive him to his house, and in the car Carisi said they could drive back down quickly to have a proper goodbye if he wanted. His mother deserves that. 

He backs up and relocks the door heading back to the car.

“Well that was short.” Carisi says still slumped in his seat reading that magazine. 

“Can we come back tomorrow? I want to say goodbye then.” Rafael huffs and shifts his body towards the window, in such an angle Carisi can’t look at his face. He’s too far forward and practically has whole body facing the door so that he can’t even get his face in the reflection. 

However, abiding by his wishes he sits up, puts the magazine away, tells Barba to buckle in (Which earns him a nasty glare), and drives off.

-

Barba yawns as he checks his watch.

2:31 am

“Carisi. I thought you said your house is an hour away.” He’s had a long day. (And a long week.) He hasn’t eaten in hours and he desperately needs sleep.

“I know… I know…” He whispers. “I just thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to scratch off one of the items on the list.”

“And you’re going to starve and sleep deprive me for it? Speaking of which, where is this list? I want to actually read it.” Barba tries to catch his eyes, but he’s determined to stare down the road. Not a bad excuse to avoid this conversation. 

“Calm down. The Bucket List is at home. As well as some beds. Also you’re aren’t reading the list. There’s some stuff I wanna surprise you with.” He adds, straightening his back and throwing some smug attitude to it.

“Ok so, you have any food there..? Or do you not need it.” Like lightning he remembers who exactly he’s talking to. “Wait. You’re immortal. Can you not starve? Okay, you know what? I’ll come back to that point later.” He lowers his gaze. “For now. You got to be kidding about that ‘surprising me’ bullshit.”

“Alright look.” Sonny doesn’t look away from the roads to address Rafael. He instead pries off his right hand to do the talking for him. “I’m not going to leave you in the dark about it all…” He hand gestures openly. “Just. Some of it.” He adds quietly, returning his hand back to the steering wheel. 

Barba hums.

“No. All of it.”

“Some of it.”

“All.”

“Some.”

_“All.”_ Barba has always had a knack for ending arguments. It’s something he’s glad he learned from his mother. Has to do with his closed body language and his commanding voice. It could turn anyone. And semi-spineless Carisi is not a challenge by any.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Sonny murmurs.

-

Carisi does promise though that they’ll be arriving at their destination in a few minutes. 

God forbid Rafael sleeps in the car with him. That’s a big _no._

He can see past the road and through the tall pines he sees a light. As they get closer, the light turns yellow. Wait, it’s a sign for some kind of truckstop. It’s a sign for a…

Denny’s

Sonny Carisi brought Rafael Barba to a _fucking_ Denny’s.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.”

“You wanted food!” He cheerfully exclaims, with no sign of the wear from the last 6 hours.

“But. _A Denny’s?!_ ”

“Hey. Don’t judge.” Carisi actually has the gall to act offended. He parked the car at least. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”

Barba really can’t bring himself to words really. This is just insane. 

“I have one question. 

_“Why.”_

“Why not.”

Rafael adjusts in his seat and faces Carisi. At least he no longer has an out, aka the road, to distract himself with. His only option is to face Barba. “Let me be more specific. _Why_ couldn’t you do this alone. At _any_ other time?”

“It’s not the same when it’s just you. You look odd when you don’t go in with someone. Preferably a friend. I’m giving you a heads up now. Most of the stuff on the list I want to do with someone.”

“So you randomly picked someone to do all this with?” Rafael’s voice has risen considerably. At least this argument woke him up a bit. 

“No. I wanted a historian of some kind as a started so I could try and convince them that I can’t die.”

“But, I work in a building full of historians.” He pleaded. The question found him again. “Why me?”

Sonny would like to say the real answer. But, he knows Barba won’t like it.

_I chose you because you look the cutest. This wasn’t just about finding someone to go on a giant road trip with me._

But. He can’t say that. So he lies.

“You were the first one I found.”

Rafael is a bit taken back at the statement and uses the pause as to take deep breaths, then a sigh. “Look I’m tired and hungry. Let’s just go eat.”

He gets out first and heads to the dinner. He looks back to see Carisi looking very guilty and sad. And in turn he feels guilty too for yelling at him. This is a bucket list item for him. _Enjoy it, dammit._

As he waits for Sonny to catch up he can see the other lights of civilization to the right of the dinner and road. Where are they? 

Walking in together they can see how abandoned the place truly is. There’s a waitress on her phone sitting as about as comfortable as you can get in the chairs they use. Barba can smell the vague resemblance of food in the building. They have to have cooks here. And involuntarily his stomach growls loud enough to heard the waitress and Carisi. Who gives him a bemused look. Barba in return shoots him glare which doesn’t seem to deter him at all.

The waitress---or as it says on her name tag, _Becky_ \---sits up and wordlessly guides them to a booth. He’s pretty impressed, he expected judgement from her, but read none on her expression. 

Sonny lives up to his nickname and gives a bright smile to Becky. 

If anything this is his opportunity to start a conversation.

“Hey. How did you get your nickname?”

The blond looks back from middle space to meet his eyes. “Oh. Sonny? It’s simple really. My dad gave it to me so that’s why it’s ridiculous as it is. This was the 1930’s 40’s, Sonny was a pretty standard nickname. Not unusual.” 

“What other ‘standard’ nicknames were out there?”

“Champ, Johnny, y'know’ the usual.” He gestured openly.

The conversation is put on hold for a moment when Becky comes back and takes their orders. 

Sadly it doesn’t pick back up. For once. Carisi doesn’t say anything. So Barba doesn’t get a smooth transition to say sorry. “Look. I’d like to apologize for raising my voice back there.”

Carisi is quick to turn down the apology right then and there. “No, no, it was fine. I did kinda screw you over there. If it is any consolation by the way we’re about 10 or so minutes from my house.”

Barba makes a disagreeing sound. “Still. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

They then lapse into an awkward silence. Both are desperate to fill the silence so as Carisi is about to talk, Barba beats him to the punch.

“What I was saying earlier…”

“What you were saying earlier…” Carisi rolls his wrist, prompting Rafael to finish.

“Can you starve to death, like, how does that work?”

His reluctance to move to this conversation doesn’t pay off as the waitress decides to appear with their food. If she heard anything she doesn’t show it. What kind of hell Becky went through to be totally impervious to this kind of behavior?

She places their waters and their respective dishes in front of them. Carisi got the Moons Over My Hammy while Barba went simple with short stack of pancakes. 

Carisi dives into his food, ignoring his question. Barba accepts defeat.

“Have you ever gotten so hungry your stomach hurts? But if you wait it out I’ll stop. Then return again. Then stop. Repeat until you die from not eating. Except for me, that cycle just continues.” He shakes his head and lifts up a fork of eggs. “I don’t die.” Then he eats it, not breaking eye contact.

Barba is the first to look away. “Thirst?”

“Your mouth gets dry and that sucks, but, other than that…” He shrugs.

They return to their meals in silence. 

Surprisingly. It’s not awkward. It’s comforting. It’s quiet. 

The hum of the fridge.

The clinking of cutlery. 

It’s nice. 

“You know. You can still opt out.”

“Don’t ask me that again, please.”

Thoroughly chastised Sonny stays quiet, but he doesn’t want quiet. Barba want’s an actual conversation, one where both would feel comfortable. A topic both can add to.

“What are our plans for later today?” Rafael says this a little louder than their usual tone of conversation since entering the building. He wants to break free of the heavy subjects.

And it works. 

“We head north. Then we head to New York. From there we jump to Alaska, cause’ I’ve always wanted to visit, then a few odd places in between.”

“Huh.” Barba muses.

“For now I wanna stick inside the US, so yeah, Hawaii at some point.” Finished with his meal he sips his water. “You?”

Rafael eats to create time to think. “I have no idea.” He has another bite. “I’ll play it by ear.”

Carisi doesn’t continue with that thought. Back to the whole, ‘surprise’ thing he supposes. But, instead he shifts from location to stuff he wants to do. 

“Without giving much away, I’d like to learn a language. Other than English.” Sonny and Barba both have their plates pushed to the edge of the table, Rafael is leaning back enjoying the soft cushion of the booth. Carisi on the other hand is hovering over the table, his sleeves are rolled up as to not get it dirty. 

“I’m fluent in Spanish. I can help you learn that.” Rafael says into his cup. 

The table moves as Sonny removes his elbows from the table. “Wait, what?”

For the adorable look of confusion on his face Barba throws him a quick smile that turns into a smirk. “I’m a first generation Cuban. My mother moved _here_ of all places. What about you? Based on your accent, I’d have to place you in Staten Island.”

“Born n’ raised!” He cheerfully adds. Toasting his glass of water and giving a wide, stupid, smile. Barba would later blame it on the lack of sleep in the way he shamefully hung his head and clinked Sonny glass. Which got a happy ‘Eyyyy!’ and a bubbly laugh. That alone was worth it in the end. “Stayed in Staten Island for awhile before I had to bail. Long story short I ended up here in the 60’s for a bit. Then jumped around for years and came back here.”

“Thrilling.” Rafael said, rancor slipping in no matter how hard he pushed it down. 

“Hey, you ready to go? And I’ll pay for this meal.” Barba nodded in response and both got up to go. When Sonny tried to pay Rafael snatched the check out of his hand.

“I’m not letting you pay for this. I know you’ll offer to pay for everything else, so let me get the trivial stuff.”

His tone left for no argument and so Carisi was left off to the side deciding if the argument was worth pursuing. _No,_ he decided, _that won’t do anyone good._

Doesn't mean teasing was off the table though.

“Paying for me? How sweet.” Carisi’s smile was acidic. 

Barba caught on to the change of tone and returned a similar smile. “Well you can pay for the rest of my expenses then. I can only be sweet once, so enjoy the moment. And you’re definitely paying for gas the entire trip, I hope you know.”

“Noted. Try to stay sweet the rest of the way to my home. I don’t think you’ll appreciate it then.” 

“As long as you have an extra bed. _I don’t care._ ”

-

Carisi’s home looked tiny. The one story house hung low to the ground like it was taking cover under the tall pines. It also looked like it was ripped straight out of the catalogue in the 60’s. Almost no patio to speak of, at least in the front, only a dying garden. Grey shingles accented the clay brown color of the rest of the house. By all intensive purposes, the house looked recently abandoned.

He pulled nicely into the driveway and bounded out, jogging to the front steps.

“Calm down. I’m not going anywhere.” Barba said in response.

Still, he waited. Eager to impress. Sonny then fumbled with his keys like an excited teenager bringing home his date. Which might as well been true. 

Inside the house retained the color from the outside. Green and brown. It was insulting to the eyes. And it clearly was written on Rafael’s face because Carisi pointed it out.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It ain’t pretty, but this is just a cover.” He said, his voice betraying how fatigued he actually was. 

Barba shot him a curious face as Sonny led them to a bookcase. In classic superhero fashion he pulled some books on the shelf and the wall right next to them shifted and opened.

“What the fuck.” Rafael said eloquently. 

Carisi opened the door a little further and led a cautious Barba inside. After opening a vault door with a keypad he led him down.

“In the 60’s it was mass hysteria to a degree. We moved out here and built a bomb shelter. I don’t live in _there._ ” Sonny looked back and nodded to the house above them. “It’s just a cover.”

“Explains why it looks deserted.” Barba pronounced slowly. 

“Yeah so.” He paused as he opened another vault door. “This is where I live. Kinda like a hermit.”

The space opened up dramatically to the right there was a surprisingly modern looking kitchen. The left held a hallway splitting off into many rooms. Carisi continued to show off his abode with the kind of proudness you’d get from someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize. The energy in the performance sucked Rafael in and made him act honestly to what ever he said. 

“Here's where you’ll be staying! There’s a bathroom off to the left and some clothes in the drawer there.” Sonny lingered at the door frame while Barba inspected the room. It wasn’t that great, but it would have to do. He looked in the drawer and found old pyjamas and some civilian clothing and that would not do. He’ll take the pyjamas though.

“Yeah. When we get back to town I’m packing.”

“Too plain for your blood?” Carisi guessed. His upper body was leaning right up against the doorframe, his arms crossed. He never bothered to roll down his sleeves. Which kinda made Rafael a bit angry for some odd reason. “You know… I do have some suits, but I’d doubt you’d fit in them.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll just wear this again.” Barba motioned to his own suit, fitted with blues and purples alike. 

Sonny shot a smile and yawned. “Okay. I’ll let you turn in. We’ll leave around 9. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I write this. It was only meant to be a warmup!
> 
> I might not continue this just a heads up.


End file.
